Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Lately Adelaide and I have been the happiest when we head out into the city for day-long adventures. We take the bus downtown and will spend all day wandering the seawall, having lunch together at favourite yummy spots, perhaps pausing for our favourite hot chocolate, hitting a few shops or bookstores or the Aquarium. Many times we will visit our friends Tristan and Isolde at Lost Lagoon and the amazing Blue Heron nesting site. And often on our days out we will stop by a business-end flower vender for 3 bunches of tulips for $5.

The only problem is that, with dozens of amazing and wonderful colours to choose from, Adelaide will only ever let me buy pink tulips. Pink! PINK! PIIINK! She will moan and I really don't have a choice but the pink... some fights just aren't worth fighting.

Pink. I always thought that - maybe - my little girl may be one who adores another hue. I've surrounded her with, encouraged, and shown her a whole world of colours, but she will pick pink most every time. Perhaps this will change some day, but for now, my Adelaide is just one more little girl who loves pink.

A typical day, when we are at home with the sky full of rain and grey outside. Often these days move at a snail's pace, and I try to keep us busy with proven good time killers: long bubble baths, lots of activity books, toddler-paced (slow) walks through the wet around our block. The cooking of dinner from scratch. All the while trying to keep things tidy so that we don't go mad in our own clutter.

It feels like almost all the days are rainy and grey lately, and I am looking forward to the return of sunshine. And peeping into the windows of travel agents, scrutinizing the deals, and dreaming of the sun, adventure, and beautiful locales.

Friday, March 26, 2010

A random evening last week, and my daughter and I are splashing together in a bedtime bubble bath. Seemingly out of nowhere, she turns, looks me right in the eye, and incredibly earnestly she says to me:

"Mama, you're my treasure!"

Sigh.

Because of this little girl, my heart is so often alive with happiness and wonder... for this I will always be eternally grateful to her.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Recently, it seems as though our days have been blurring together, just a little bit. But I feel happy. Inside of me. I think that there may be a 'secret' to life - unique to everyone. My secret may just be to keep it simple. Too bad it only took me three decades to figure that one out! So here we are, happily keeping it simple.

Recently, I heard non-stop chattering coming from downstairs, and when my curiousity finally got to me, I came down to find Adelaide "reading" to Elliot. See how he arches his tail back around her? His bent under front paw? The goofy grin on his face? It's love.

I love it how these two are good together... Adelaide and Elliot are almost always together, and they seem to be able to, somehow, bring the best in each other.

Now that our television is (still, very much, maybe even forever!) broken, Adelaide's desire to do her daily paintings has returned with a vengeance. She had stopped for some time, but she is once again painting about an hour almost every day. She calls it her "work" and she is very serious about her work!

I love sitting back and watching her. Often she will give funny commentary to her paintings. Make up stories, sing her funny songs, or often repeat "I am an Artist!" over and over again.

...It's pretty peculiar, how the time change has left me feeling today. I feel so worn out and so groggy! Only one lousy hour ahead, but already it is almost 3 o'clock and Adelaide and I are both still in our pyjamas. And for all my persuading, I can't seem to trick Addie into crawling back into bed with me for some snoozing. She's getting too smart for me.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

I've been meaning to share this special place with you all for some time now. Adelaide and I could spend all day here in this happy, inspiring, and cozy spot. It is actually the only place where Adelaide has taken a look around and announced "this is just like our house!" Yes, we fit right in.

This place I write of is Collage Collage, a children's workshop and store located our hometown of Vancouver. Our friend Erin Boniferro opened it up last year, and we love it! Collage Collage is such a perfect spot to visit with children because - in my experience - so many children's destinations tend to be just too much. Too much activity, too much stimulation, too much volume, too many stressed out parents and crazed kids! Collage Collage is like an oasis to me in that it is such an super inspiring and creative place for both adults and children of all ages, yet it is such a calm and cozy environment at the same time.

Erin is fantastic with kids - she is so incredibly accepting and patient, and never condescending to children, which is something I really admire and appreciate. She is the type of woman who can bring out the best in little ones (and big ones!), and this I love about her and her very special little shop.

Last month we were happy to have Adelaide's birthday party at Collage Collage. I told Erin that we were having a little bird birthday, and she was awesome to tailor-make up a party especially for Adelaide's ideas. She planned a story time for the children with several bird story books, and to follow there was a discussion all about birds, and then some bird-type art projects (which Erin created especially for 3 and 4 year olds). First the children made their own little nests using all sorts of scraps of yarn, string, and twine. And then to follow, Erin had the children make their own birds by colouring, gluing collages, and glittering paper birds-on-sticks, which she had prepared in advance. So perfect and so cute!

The three birds that Adelaide made that day proudly hang in our kitchen now. Every so often I will catch Adelaide chattering away and realise that she is making up stories and pretending with the little birds, all from her seat at our kitchen table. We will often then take the birds down and talk about them and play with them together. She is so proud of them, and I think that they are one of Adelaide's most special creations which I will have to keep for her forever.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Our week has flown by so quickly, but here I will now find a winner for my recent giveway of a shiny new copy of the wonderful children's book Zoe and the Fawn. Thank you to everyone who has visited me and for your comments!

Oh my goodness! This book would be so perfect for my best friend and her little daughter. Her little girl is named Zoe. She is about 9 months old, and has a heart defect. She is so special because ever since we were little my friend told me that she was going to name her first little girl Zoe. Zoe had to undergo some serious heart surgeries immediately after birth, and hopefully only has to do one more. We looked up what her name means, and it means "Life". It is the perfect name because she originally didn't have a very good chance of living. Now, things are looking a bit more optomistic! Even if you don't chose to give me/her this book I would so love to know the author's name so I can try to track it down myself. Thank you so much for always being so generous!

Well, I don't think that I could ask for a more beautiful match for this sweet little book. Shelese, if you haven't already received my message, please contact me!

If you are interested in finding a copy of Zoe and the Fawn for yourself or your little ones, here are the details now:

Zoe and the Fawn, written by Catherine Jameson with illustrations by Julie Flett. Published by: Thetus books, ISBN-10: 189477843X, ISBN-13: 978-1894778435.

M E

Hello! My name is Sharilyn, and together I live with my guy and our sweet girl + baby boy in a hundred-and-two-year-old cottage on the east side of Vancouver, Canada.

Long ago, I began a my own little company called lovelydesign. After many years (with a little luck and a lot of work) my own creations enabled me to make a small living doing what I love to do. But these days I am both a full-time mama and maker, and so I am creating my goods only infrequently.

I keep this blog as a record of all sorts of things which I'd like to try to keep with me for always.